Paris, France

Three alarms went off at 4 am in the Paris flat because we didn’t want to miss our train to Saint Jean PdP. We just needed our coffee, and to dress. My pack was ready, but Norm had a few things to put away. We were out and speeding by taxi for Montparnasse before the sun was up. We were at the train station terrifically early so I had a croissant as soon as the tea stalls opened, but Norm was fussy about the pasties so wouldn’t eat. It was a hurry up and wait situation, but time will pass so we were soon on board the first train, which would terminate in Dax. The trip was long, fast and comfortable. I noticed by 8 am Norm was munching on his sandwich. I ate mine around 10, which feels like lunchtime if you’re up at 4. Then we had another wait, only this time when our number came up on the departures board it wasn’t a platform number at all. It was a little bus icon so that’s how we found out we’d be switched to a bus. The bus was there, but the driver was vague with us. “Je n’ parle pas Frances” said I, and the driver said, “y mi non” or so it seemed. Anyway, there were some clues, our number on the ticket matched the number on a sign on the windshield of the bus, and our ticket and the bus sported the same logo. The bus took us to Bayonne, where Norm said, “Just wait, it will be another bus.” Again the clues were there, only this time it was the crowd of pilgrims, all with their regulation backpacks, just hanging around the bus station trying to look cool but also looking confused. There was no other way to be, because there wasn’t a lot of information. Three buses came and we crowded each one, but the third was our bus. It was a lovely magical ride to Saint Jean PdP passing many a scene that I recognized from books and the Internet. Soon it became clear as mud why we were on the bus, because we passed several crews working on rebuilding the railroad. I felt some waves of sadness, because I was here, realizing a dream, but the reality didn’t match quite enough. I wanted to be on my way to Santiago, but really we will stop at Burgos after 2 weeks. I wanted the full challenge of the pilgrimage but had made a compromise with Norm which I was regretting. We found our bed and breakfast at last. It’s beautiful, and we showered then set to work rearranging our gear. We now have our packs set up to hike, I washed my socks and travel clothes in the sink, and we have what we don’t need in the rolling bags to be sent ahead to Burgos. We went into the village for a stroll and I bought our shells. We ate a pilgrim’s meal at Chez Eduardo’s – soup, fried chicken, French fries and cake. We looked at all the lovely things to buy, and lamented that as pilgrims we shouldn’t be shopping! Now we’re back in our pretty room listening to bird song, and Norm is beginning to snore, Tomorrow’s plan is simple, we will arrange the transit of our extra bags, arrange our first night on the trail accommodations, in Roncevalles and our last night in Burgos so we can meet up with our stuff. I need to double check that our gear is all prepared.